Happiness and Closure on DAY FIVE of DIY Writer’s Retreat

I have realized a few very important things in my last five days of writing solitude:

• I don’t prepare vegetables. I only eat them if they are put in front of me. This needs to change.
• Writing is hard work– beautiful, agonizing work– filled with valleys of self-doubt and peaks of eureka. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but I didn’t know how much effort is involved in communicating a ‘permanent record’. There is something about a book that is very different from a blog post. It has more weight somehow, which makes you take it more seriously.
• I talk out loud. Even when no one is around. Especially when no one is around.
• Walking is good for the symbiotic relationship between my body and my mind.
• It takes me quite a while to get into the writing. (I only really started writing in earnest on Day Four!) I need a way to get into it faster. I believe this just happens with routine, and as you get used to it, you get better at it. Or perhaps the delay gets baked into the routine, and then you’ve established permanent bad habits! It’s hard to tell after five days. I wish I could do this for twenty.

Today my family re-joined me and we had pizza (with a veggie plate!) and they reviewed my not-quite-nearly finished book on my iPad. I think if I had another week I could finish the rough draft. But I have a taste for it now, and it will be a priority.

I won’t be writing any more DIY posts, because unfortunately that ride is over. It was the best gift my family could give me. I don’t think I’ve ever been completely alone for that long before. I didn’t interact with a single person face-to-face for five days. And I started to get this strange un-feeling: there wasn’t anything pulling at the inside of my chest, or upsetting my stomach, or pinching my forehead together. I didn’t hold my breath. I never snapped at anyone, not even the cat when she missed the litter box and peed all over the floor. I think that un-feeling was stressless contentment.

It was a beautiful experience. In a few weeks I should have a rough draft of Create More Better Different for copy editing. I’ll keep updating my progress here. Thanks again for all the support.